Stitched-up Sea King is back
THE King is back in the building.
Less than 12-months ago, Sea King could have easily lost his life but thanks to yesterday’s $50,000 Awapuni Hurdles victory the popular jumper, with a will to win that is bigger than Texas, is back in the winner’s circle.
Sea King’s 15th win of his jumping career was not his biggest scalp but it will go down as the most satisfying.
His proud owner Rachel Frost summed Sea King up in five simple words: ‘‘He’s a pretty special animal.’’
The champion jumper was fighting for his career following a freak accident in the early stages of the Crisp Steeplechase at Sandown back in August last year.
A horse racing in front of Sea King clipped a section of the running rail which caused a portion of the sharp plastic rail to catapult into the Kiwi jumper’s chest.
The impact dislodged his jockey Steven Pateman and caused a nasty gash in his chest, bigger than the size of an average human fist.
Despite the wound, the lionhearted jumper completed the majority of the 3900m journey.
It could have been worse but the incident, that was no fault of Sea King’s, was a costly one for his ownership team of Frost, Chris O’Reilly and Sue Harty.
The former bred the 10-year-old son of Shinko King.
Racing in the form of his life, Sea King was a $1.30 favourite for the Crisp following his victories in the Mosstrooper and Thackeray Steeplechases.
Frost said the once gaping hole is now just a small scar and a flap of skin.
Sea King came back from the horrific incident with three flat runs before finishing sixth of seven in an open hurdle at Hastings back on May 11.
He was pulled up in the final stages of the Waikato Hurdles but looked much more like his old self when finishing third in an open hurdle at Trentham a week before his Awapuni Hurdles victory.
‘‘It’s very satisfying. Not only for what happened last year but also when he was not going any good earlier this season,’’ Frost said.
‘‘We thought we were looking at retirement.’’
Sea King’s effort was made more impressive by his 70kg weight but he was helped when race leader Shamal made a mistake at the fourth to last fence.
Jockey Charlie Price was dislodged on landing. Shamal was travelling well. Jockey Shaun Fannin deflected all the credit to trainer Kevin Myers for Sea King being back to his best.
Frost said no discussions have been held on what happens next for Sea King.
Upper Cut finished second, three lengths behind Sea King, with Justa Charlie, a further two and a half lengths behind, in third.
STEPHEN Nickalls is not one to do things by halves.
The Awapuni trainer delivered another one of his now trademark celebrations when The Oysterman won yesterday’s Awapuni Steeplechase and with good reason.
Nickalls left nothing in the tank as he cheered his pride and joy home and neither did the horse as he scored his maiden steeplechase victory in a $50,000 open company race.
‘‘It just doesn’t get any better than this,’’ an excited Nickalls told Trackside TV in a post-race interview after the impressive one and three-quarter length win.
‘‘The horse really deserved it, Hamish rode him beautifully,’’ he said after Hamish McNeill’s measured ride.
Nickalls was not wrong when he said The Oysterman deserved the win.
He ran second to Just Ishi at Trentham one week earlier - one of his three seconds over steeples.
A perennial bridesmaid, The Oysterman ran second to Mr Mor in the 2015 Wellington Steeplechase.
In that same jumping season he finished fourth in the Great Northern Steeplechase and fifth in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup.
The now nine-year-old son of Yamanin Vital returned to the Wellington Steeplechase last year where he ran third.
Nickalls hinted that a third shot at the Wellington Steeplechase would be The Oysterman’s next assignment when he said ‘‘bring on another round’’ referring to the extra lap in the 5500m Prestige race.
Race favourite Wise Men Say made up ground to late to finish third, threequarters of a length behind the second placed Joking.
The incident-packed race was a tame affair compared to the crazy events of last week’s steeplechase at Trentham but there was still plenty of drama.
For a fleeting moment, it looked as though a repeat of last weeks shambolic start was on the cards when The Big Opal was fractious before the flag start but thankfully the field got away safely.
Will Gordon had a life aboard Kings Kite at the second fence but it was short lived. Gordon pulled Kings Kite up soon after when he could not regain his irons.
Just a couple of jumps later, early leader Nells Belle made a mistake that threw Emma Goodinson to the turf.
A lap later the field had to be directed around the same jump as Goodinson remained on the track.
By that time, second favourite The Big Opal and Shaun Fannin had lost their chances when they fell on the second jump of the double as the field made their way through the centre of the Trentham track for the final time.
Neither The Big Opal or Fannin were injured in the fall.
Goodinson was transferred to hospital by ambulance but reports from Trentham suggested it was just a precautionary move.
Meanwhile, Kings Deep scored a well-deserved win in the maiden steeplechase in the first race on the card.
The Paul Nelson-trained jumper was a victim of the rogue Highly Likely at Trentham last week.
The riderless Highly Likely came sideways through the double and collided with Kings Deep.
The impact dislodged Shaun Phelan and ended the chances of Kings Deep.
But yesterday’s steeplechase was incident free for the $1.60 favourite and he went on to win by five and a quarter lengths.
One race earlier, the Harvey Wilsontrained It’s A Wonder made the perfect start to his jumping career when he won the maiden hurdle on his jumping debut in the hands of Will Gordon by one and a half lengths.